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Just call him Saint Alec. In fact, In the animated flick Rise of the Guardians, Alec Baldwin voices Santa Claus. It’s a role he enjoys playing at home, too, with wife Hilaria, a yoga instructor he wed in June, and his daughter, Ireland, 17.

“Whatever my wife wants, whatever my daughter wants, I say, ‘We must go buy this now.’ I like to be on duty 365 days a year.”

Baldwin isn’t stingy with those dear to him, particularly when it comes to electronics. “With my wife, I just got her a new computer the other day and a new phone. We got her completely re-Mac’d, if you will.”

The famously mercurial Emmy-winning star of NBC’s 30 Rock — who made headlines last December by getting booted off an American Airlines flight for playing Words with Friends on his phone before takeoff — is a proud technology snob. And he’s not afraid to intervene when he sees friends or family use low-end devices. “I would be with my sister at her house. I’d say, ‘Get in the car, let’s go now,’ and we’d drive to the Syracuse Apple store” and buy the top of the line product. He jokes that with his attention to tech, “just in case they ask me to launch missiles, I’m locked and loaded.”

Always at hand: the iPhone that’s on the table next to him during this interview. “Let’s face it: 85% of what I do on the computer is done on a handheld.”

Although Baldwin bemoans the day that kids will only watch grand cinematic epics on their handhelds, he understands that there’s no going back in time. And he admittedly likes the distractions that the Internet provides, particularly Words with Friends. He enjoys the game because it “gives me a break from my day,” which includes long hours on the 30 Rock set.

So what tech riles the hyper-focused Baldwin? “Faux innovation is annoying to me, when they come out with a new product and pretend it’s better. ... It’s disappointing.”